The overall objective of this research is to use tissue engineering techniques to understand a craniofacial abnormality, Apert Syndrome. Apert Syndrome, a well studied genetic disease, is characterized as a premature closure of cranial sutures. The first step in engineering a therapy is to understand the cell function and tissue development, which is what this study proposes to do. Most studies only focus on cell function in two dimensions, but this project proposes to examine it in three dimensions, which better mimics the in vivo environment. Our strategy involves a cell-laden hydrogel that can be subcutaneously injected into an animal and polymerized (solidified) using light in a minimally invasive manner. Encapsulation of these mutant cells compared to normal mesenchymal stem cells will provide an understanding of bone and cartilage formation involved in the disease. The polymer used to fabricate the hydrogel scaffold is poly ethylene oxide diacrylate and other modified versions of this polymer, which provide improved properties. The mutant and normal mesenchymal stem cells will be evaluated in 2D monolayers, in vitro hydrogels, and in vivo hydrogels. [unreadable] [unreadable]